Who Was the Deadweight?

"First, my first theory is that Yu Xiaogang's pride was getting in the way."

"We need to understand that Yu Xiaogang's Martial Soul was Luo Sanpao, and all of Luo Sanpao's Soul Skills were related to farting."

At that moment, the Heavenly Curtain began to roll, and Luo Sanpao appeared on-screen.

"Farting like thunder, Earth-Shattering Luo Sanpao!"

A cloud of yellow smoke swept across the scene, filling the entire Heavenly Curtain.

Even through the Heavenly Curtain, the people watching across Douluo Continent could faintly sense Luo Sanpao's stench spreading through it and reaching their ears.

"Farting? Luo Sanpao's Martial Soul was clearly the Golden Sacred Dragon, transformed from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. So why were its Soul Skills all about farting?"

"The main reason was probably the First and Second Soul Rings Yu Xiaogang had obtained. Perhaps the Soul Ring he hunted for his first one was actually bamboo shoots."

"After absorbing the bamboo shoots, Luo Sanpao became a Martial Soul that could only let out stinky farts."

"Yu Xiaogang absorbed bamboo shoots himself and became a Soul Master who could only fart. He wasn't satisfied, so he wanted Tang San to absorb a Lone Bamboo too."

As soon as those words fell,

the people who had heard this in the two different eras of Douluo Continent fell silent.

He had absorbed bamboo shoots that could only make him fart, and now he wanted his own disciple to absorb a Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo.

Could someone like that really raise a god?

Shrek Academy.

"Teacher, I believe you. This is completely made up."

"You'd never make me absorb a Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo because of something like this."

After hearing what the Heavenly Curtain had just said, Tang San stepped forward and defended Yu Xiaogang with conviction.

"Besides, the Heavenly Curtain says your First Soul Ring was bamboo shoots. How could that be possible? Teacher, tell us what your First Soul Ring was."

"Then you can prove you never had that kind of intention."

"Uh... Heh-heh, Xiao San, I appreciate the thought."

Yu Xiaogang gave an awkward smile, then walked over to Tang San and said, touched,

"This is obviously all made up. I don't even need to say anything. No one would believe it anyway."

"Right?"

"Yeah. Master's Luo Sanpao is obviously a dog Martial Soul. How could it have absorbed bamboo shoots?"

Dai Mubai, who was counting on Tang San to become a god king in the future, hurriedly tried to smooth things over.

"Exactly. It's impossible. This sounds like a story someone made up."

With Tang San and Dai Mubai taking the lead, the rest of Shrek's students let go of their doubts.

At that moment, a complicated look flashed through Flender's eyes as he watched the scene.

As one of the original members of the Golden Iron Triangle, Flender knew exactly what Yu Xiaogang's First Soul Ring was.

He still clearly remembered Yu Xiaogang bragging to him and Liu Erlong.

He had said that, to prove his Ten Core Theories of Martial Souls, he had absorbed a hundred-year bamboo shoot as his First Soul Ring.

"Of course, there isn't much evidence to support this first theory. It's just my conjecture. But I'm very confident about the second one."

"At the beginning, I said our great theorist was a total good-for-nothing who had stayed at Level 29 until he was fifty."

"The reason he came up with those Ten Core Theories of Martial Souls was entirely that he was useless at cultivating his Martial Soul."

"On top of that, he'd never really fought anyone and had no combat experience. So Yu Xiaogang had no fighting ability at all."

"When he took the then-six-year-old Tang San to hunt for a Soul Ring, he had no confidence that he could kill a Soul Beast over a hundred years old."

"Taking Tang San to hunt for a good Soul Ring? Forget succeeding—Yu Xiaogang was putting both their lives at risk."

"Rather than risk both master and disciple dying in the Soul Hunting Forest, Yu Xiaogang might as well have made the excuse that a Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo suited Tang San, let him absorb one, and then called it a day."

"Here's the footage to prove it. This shows what happened after Tang San and Yu Xiaogang ventured deeper and encountered the hundred-year Soul Beast, the Mandala Snake."

As soon as he finished speaking, footage of Yu Xiaogang and Tang San fighting the Mandala Snake began playing on the Heavenly Curtain.

On-screen, Yu Xiaogang looked terrified. He held a white radish and kept stuffing it into Luo Sanpao's mouth, one piece at a time.

"Faster, faster! Luo Sanpao, hurry up!"

At Yu Xiaogang's urging, Luo Sanpao finished the white radish, then let out a world-shaking stench.

Yu Xiaogang had handed Tang San a mask ahead of time. As they were engulfed in yellow smoke,

the master and disciple fled in utter disarray.

The hundred-year Mandala Snake behind them pursued relentlessly. It may even have been enraged by Luo Sanpao.

It grew even angrier and charged wildly through the Soul Hunting Forest, its long body dragging behind it.

They ran. It chased.

Tang San and Yu Xiaogang had nowhere to go.

If six-year-old Tang San had been alone, he might have escaped. But Yu Xiaogang was a deadweight holding him back.

The Mandala Snake kept closing in behind them. It was about to catch up with the pair.

Watching the thrilling scene on the Heavenly Curtain, everyone at Shrek Academy tensed up.

They knew Tang San would get through it safely and absorb the Mandala Snake's Soul Ring.

But looking at the scene, none of them could figure out how Yu Xiaogang had managed to help a six-year-old Tang San kill the hundred-year Mandala Snake.

Xiao Wu quietly gripped Tang San's sleeve, her voice tinged with concern.

"Third Brother, how did you escape from that Mandala Snake back then?"

"I bet someone happened to pass by and rescued Master and Tang San."

Oscar said confidently.

"No, look. There's clearly no one around Master and Xiao San. And even if someone had been there, why would they have helped?"

Dai Mubai shook his head, then shared his theory with everyone.

"I think Master must have pushed his body to its limits at the critical moment and killed the Mandala Snake together with Luo Sanpao."

"After all, Master is a Level 29 Soul Grandmaster. He couldn't possibly have been helpless against a hundred-year Mandala Snake."

"Boss Dai is right. Master must have stepped in."

Hearing Dai Mubai's theory, everyone nodded in agreement.

After all, Dai Mubai's explanation seemed the most likely.

There had only been two of them then: Tang San and Yu Xiaogang. If it wasn't Yu Xiaogang saving his disciple Tang San,

then was the six-year-old Tang San, who hadn't even obtained his First Soul Ring yet, the one who saved his master Yu Xiaogang?

No matter how you looked at it, Yu Xiaogang was a Level 29 Soul Grandmaster.

Surely he wasn't really the good-for-nothing the Heavenly Curtain described, with no fighting ability at all.

"Master, did I guess right?"

Dai Mubai looked at Yu Xiaogang, who had fallen silent some time ago.

Yu Xiaogang could feel his face burning.

Humiliating. This was just too humiliating.

Was he really going to have to admit that, when they had encountered the Mandala Snake, he had been the deadweight—and that he would have died in the snake's jaws without Tang San?

Fortunately, just as Dai Mubai pressed him for an answer, the scene on the Heavenly Curtain shifted.